Remembering Two Heroes - Forwarded

Here is a Feb. 2 post from threedonia by Outlaw13, remembering two friends who gave their lives in defense of their country ...

"Three years ago, two members of my unit were lost while flying a combat mission in Iraq. Caught in an ADA ambush with an aircraft so damaged that by 'the book', they should have landed right there, they chose to fight their attackers. Ultimately Keith and Jason's aircraft finally succumbed to its damage and fell to earth taking our friends with it. We will never forget CW4 Keith Yoakum and CW2 jason DeFrinn.

When we finally meet them at Fiddler's Green, I'm sure they will have a cold one and some stories for us. Till then, Garryowen!

For an Army Times story about that day go HERE."

Two brave Americans gave their lives in defense of their country that day. They could have saved themselves, but chose to continue to fight to defend their comrades. True heroes ... Go to the link, and honor them by reading about their sacrifice.

F-35 Program Chief Fired

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates fired USMC Gen. David Heinz from his post as the Pentagon's F-35 Program Manager today. Gates also announced that he is withholding $614 million in performance bonuses from Lockheed-Martin as punishment for delays in testing and cost overruns that have put the entire program behind it's often revised schedule by over a year.

There are only 3 test aircraft flying at this time, although Lockheed Martin reports that 9 aircraft have been completed. Those 3 completed only 10% of the test flights scheduled for 2009.

So, even if everything from this point forward proceeds perfectly (which is impossible!), our armed forces will have to wait an additional year without new aircraft to replace ones that have already been retired. The 'Fighter Gap' gets wider and wider ... (This to say nothing about the additional money that will have to come from the taxpayers...)

Now, do I blame Lockheed-Martin for this? Not really... I blame the Pentagon and those in Washington, who took the best case scenario laid out for the F-35 program, and built everything around it(budgets, aircraft retirements, aircraft procurement, manning). They should have known better. No one who has seen a major weapons system program in the past 30 years should have gone 'all in' on a perfect schedule laid out by a contractor.

Gates was right to fire this guy. There should be some firings at Lockheed-Martin. Gates should be gone as well - he should have known better, and it's been happening under his watch.

For those of you insteresed in the F-35, try http://www.jsf.mil/

Image courtesy Lockheed-Martin

Col. John Loisel, RIP

Colonel John Loisel, USAF Ret., passed away last Wednesday at the age of 89. He will be laid to rest this coming Friday at the DFW National Cemetary.

Col. Loisel joined the Army Air Corps prior to the beginning of WWII, and was onboard a ship bound for the Phillipines when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was stationed in New Guinea, flying P-39s with the 36th Fighter Squadron, completing 83 missions. He then transferred into the first P-38 unit in the Pacific theatre, the 432nd fighter Squadron, which was working up in Australia. Going back to New Guinea, he eventually commanded the 432nd, and racked up 11 kills.

Col. Loisel flew F-84s with the 47th Fighter Bomber Group in the Korean War. He eventually retired from the USAF in 1970, and started a second career as a Physics teacher in the Plano, TX ISD.

During his career, he was awarded the Sliver Star, Legion of Merit, 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and 9 Air Medals.

Rest In Peace, Colonel.

Photo courtesy Col. Loisel's family

High Roller Phantoms

This video surfaced on another website, and I thought I'd share it here. Some outstanding coverage of Nevada ANG, 192RS 152RW, RF-4C Phantoms. Definitely not USAF approved maneuvers!

This video was shot in 1995 shortly before the unit retired these aircraft and converted to the C-130. The 'High Rollers' set several time to climb and speed records with the jets before they were retired, records which, I believe, still stand.



I visited the unit around that time. The folks there were great, and pretty much turned me and Bill loose on the ramp to photograph whatever we wished. Some good memories - I sure miss the old Phantom!

Pictures by yours truly, at Reno on July12, 1995.

F-35 Production Cuts ... Already????

The Pentagon has announced that cost overruns and delays in testing and production run-up are forcing it to cut the number of F-35 Lightning II aircraft procured for the money that has been allotted for the program.

10 aircraft will be cut from 2011 procurement. 122 aircraft will be cut from the production run by 2015. That's equivalent to cutting 10 Navy or Marine squadron's worth of aircraft.

This is due completely to cost overruns. $2,800,000,000 from production funding is being redirected to helping complete the flight testing process, because it has taken so long and has found so many problems that need to be addressed.

This is another example of the lunacy of Pentagon procurement contracts, that place the monetary responsibility of cost overruns, for any reason, back on the government (taxpayer). No matter the cause, even if it is negligence on the contractor's part, the taxpayer foots the bill. In the case of the F-35, it will result in a significant reduction in the number of aircraft built for our services - aircraft desperately needed to overcome the shortfall of combat aircraft we are in the middle of (a shortfall that will get increasingly worse as this new decade moves forward). The F-35 was supposed to fill this 'fighter gap' and bring our military back up to strength - instead, the number is being cut before full scale production even begins.

Contractors generally have little or no reason to avoid cost overruns, since they are passed on. Until the Pentagon starts signing contracts that hold contractors to a fixed cost, this is going to repeat itself. I know of no military procurement contract that has been delivered on time, on cost in modern history - surely there are some, but they are so small as to be unnoticed. Contractors have every incentive to undercut their competition cost wise during the bidding process, knowing that they will be able to make it up later on - and that they will face no punishment.

A Hero Passes ....

Joseph B. Duncan passed away on December 20 at his Texas home, at the age of 63.

As a Captain in the US Army, he flew OH-6 Loach scout and AH-1 Cobra gunship helicopters with the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam in the 1969 time frame.

Capt. Duncan was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, and 37 Air Medals in recognition of his efforts in Vietnam.

Capt. Duncan will be buried at the DFW National Cemetary on Jan. 22.

Godspeed Captain Duncan ... thank you for your service to our country.

Putin Dictates US Defense Policy

Vladimir Putin, Russia's true Czar, on Dec. 29 in a web posting stated the following:

"The problem is that our American partners are developing missile defenses, and we are not.

But the issues of missile defense and offensive weapons are closely interconnected. ... There could be a danger that having created an umbrella against offensive strike systems, our partners may come to feel completely safe. After the balance is broken, they will do whatever they want and grow more aggressive.

In order to preserve a balance while we aren't planning to build a missile defense of our own, as it's very expensive and its efficiency is not quite clear yet, we have to develop offensive strike systems.

They should give us all the information about the missile defense, and we will be ready then to provide some information about offensive weapons."

- Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister, Dec. 29, 2009

Now, a real world translation;

Putin is laying down a line in the sand to Obama.

Russia has not developed (that we know of) any type of missile defense shield - not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't afford it, and apparently have been unsuccessful in stealing the technology from us.

Putin regards our missile defense shield as an advantage - and Russia cannot stand for us to have an advantage.

Putin wants Obama to both give him all the technical details of missile defense (so they can build their own without paying for the development), and restrict our own use of missile defense. In other words, Russia wants the advantage ....

Putin is dangling a carrot/threatening to build more nuclear tipped missiles to point at us if Obama doesn't agree to both of these conditions.

Obama, who wants to unilaterally castrate US defense forces and policy, is likely to sit up and bark agreement to whatever Putin wants - because he wants to be seen as the force for peace in the world.

Now, missile defense, a completely defensive system with no capability to attack an enemy, should be a thing regarded highly by everyone in the world. The people whose weapons it makes irrelevant are scared of it, and are twisting world opinion against it in hopes of defeating it politically. Only in Obama's America would our own leadership think a defensive system is a bad thing.

BRAC - Scheduled for Another Attack on Our Military

BRAC - the mere suggestion of the name causes almost everyone in the military to shiver, along with many politicians and civilians employed by the military. BRAC - Base Realignment And Closure.

BRAC was started as a non-partisan, independent affort to reduce military installations, eliminate redundant ones, and realign others for new missions. There have been several rounds of BRAC attacks on the military - hundreds of installations have been closed, thousands of people thrown out of work, hundreds of military communities devestated, and a lot of military capability lost.

BRAC is scheduled to surface again in 2013 for another round of closures. With all that has been closed and eliminated, there just isn't much more that can be cut - without drastically reducing our military capability. That doesn't seem to be a problem for the current administration ... time is almost here to whack away again.

Why is this an issue now? Because the poilitical wrangling has already started. Politicians go to war (almost literally) with BRAC, Congress, and the Admininstration to protect bases in the areas they represent. A politician who can claim to have defeated BRAC and saved a local base is guaranteed re-election.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-NE) is a moderate Democrat, one seen as a swing vote in the current Obamacare battle. He has been reported to have asked leadership of the Senate and the Obama administration to guarantee him that Offutt AFB, NE will be excluded from the BRAC list, in exchange for his vote.

Offutt AFB is home to about 10,000 Air Force personnel. It was the HQ of SAC. It hosts the 55th RW, which operates most of the Air Force's fixed wing intelligence aircraft. It is located in Omaha, which is very dependent upon the base for its economy. Offutt is also rumored to be a big target of the next BRAC list. Nelson would be pretty much guaranteed his re-election if he can secure Offutt's immunity from BRAC.

Dec. 2, 1966

December 2nd, 1966 was another bad day for US aerial forces flying in SEA.

RF-4C 65-0829, 11TRS 432TRW, flying out of Udorn, was lost on a recon mission north of Hanoi after being hit by groundfire. Both crew members, pilot Capt. Robert Gregory and WSO Lt. Leroy Stutz, successfully ejected and were captured. Gregory was injured during the ejection and died shortly after being captured.

F-105D 59-1820, 34TFS 388TFW, based at Korat, piloted by Capt. Monte Moorberg, was lost on a raid on the Phuc Yen airfield. The aircraft was hit by groundfire, Moorberg did not eject and perished.

F-4C 64-0753, 480TFS 366TFW, Da Nang, was lost on the same mission, hit by a SA-2. Pilot Capt. Hubert Flesher and WSO Lt. James Berger ejected and were captured.

F-4C 64-0663, 389TFS 366TFW, Da Nang, was hit by another SA-2 during the same raid. Maj. Ray Burns and Lt. Bruce Ducat both ejected and became POWs, but Lt. Ducat died in captivity.

A-4C 145143, VA-172, flying from the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, and A-4C 145116, also from VA-172 were both lost on a night mission near Phuc Nhac. The exact circumstances were not determined, but it was thought that they were downed by SAMs. Pilots Cdr. Bruce Nystrom and Ens. Paul Worrell were both killed.

F-4B 151014, VF-154, based on the USS Coral Sea, was lost while flying a mission to Kep airfield in North Vietnam. It was hit by groudfire, which blew off the entire left wing. Pilot Lt. David McRae did not eject and died. RIO Ens. David Rehmann did successfully eject, and was captured.

4 Phantoms, 1 Thunderchief, and 2 Skyhawks were downed on this day, resulting in 6 aircrew members dying, and 5 being captured. Another crappy day in a crappy war .....

Midway SBD

This past week, I had the opportunity to pass through Chicago's Midway airport. Nice little airport. As I walked out of Concourse A, I was surprised to walk under a WWII era SBD Dauntless dive bomber.

This model aircraft was the US Navy's primary bomber aircraft when the war started. It is extremely rare these days - not very many survived the war and subsequent scrapper's torches. It was not a popular aircraft with post war aviation folks, so there just weren't many that were saved.

This particular aircraft was located in Lake Michigan in 1989, and brought to the surface in 1991. It was shipped to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, where it underwent a full restoration. Initially, it was displayed at the USAF Museum in Dayton, painted as an Army A-24.

The aircraft had been ditched in the lake on December 14, 1944, by Ensign Albert O'Dell, who had run out of fuel while practicing carrier landings on the USS Sable. Ensign O'Dell was recovered with minor injuries. His aircraft, BuNo 10575, sat on the bottom of the lake, preserved remarkably well by the frigid waters for 47 years.

In 2004, the SBD 10575(Scout Bomber Douglas) was repainted to represent one that had flown during the Battle of Midway. It was enshrined above the entrance to Concourse A, along with a very nice display honoring the Battle of Midway. (Midway Airport was given its current name in 1949 by the City of Chicago to recognize the Battle of Midway.)

SBDs played a key role in the Battle of Midway, sinking 4 Japanese carriers with dive bombing attacks, and turning the tide of the war. Having one pulled from Lake Michigan, then being restored and displayed at the airport named for the battle, is very zen-like, don't you think?

Our New Breed of Aviator Warriors?

Drones have become an important part of our aerial might, there is no doubt about it. Global Hawks, Predators, Reapers, and more are becomming an integral component of aerial forces, particularly in recon tasking.

Uninhabited Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Unmanned Aerial vehicles, Uninhabited Combat Aviation Systems .... the names keep changing to make them seem more complex and capable. Notice Uninhabited is replacing Unmanned - PC is even invading the drone world ....

The Obama Administration, Deense Secretary Gates, and some of the Pentagon's brass is infatuated with these radio controlled things. They see them as cheap (with cheap being a relative term!) vehicles that can do jobs without risking pilots (which is a good thing). They see them as the perfect weapon to wage a low intensity war against widely scattered, poorly armed terrorist types. They also see a future expansion of drone operations, to include fighter and bomber missions, and aircraft landing on carriers at sea - I have heard quotes from several officials stating they want to see a completely pilotless aerial force.

There are mutliple problems with these things. We lose a lot of these things, and they do cost multiple millions of dollars each. Most of them are completely reliant upon radio communications through satellites to ground control stations that may be half a world away. While most of them are under live operator control, the operator only has as much information on the situation as he can get from the vehicle's sensors, and other observors, if any.

A big problem I see is with the pilots who control these things. Currently, they are fully trained aviators who have been 'demoted' to flying a joystick from an armchair. These pilots are pissed off at this. The government has spent upwards of a million dollars for each of these pilots for training. Pilots who spend time in 'the chair' are unlikely to fly a real airplane for the military again - there are simply too many pilots for too few airplanes these days, and it's going to get worse for them.

Pretty soon, the government is going to figure out they don't have to have fully trained pilots for drones, and they will begin training drone operators - not pilots. Very sad.

Cockpit of the future:

Give Me A F'ing Break - Forwarded

I'd like to share some thoughts from Outlaw13, posted over at threedonia, concerning the hazards faced by those flying drones over the war zones. Being a combat aviator in Iraq on his third tour, he is certainly entitled to this opinion ....

"I post this story from the newspaper for purely selfish reasons. It boils my blood to read about a person who wakes up every morning in their own bed, drives their car to work, flies an Uninhabited Aerial System (UAS) from a work station for several hours and at the end of the day returns to their home and then complains about how hard that is for them to deal with. I have been to Iraq three times for a grand total of 31+ months now, at last count I have lost at least 15 friends I have known over the years to this conflict. I have been mortared, rocketed and shot at with machine guns and assorted weapons of all types. In this article you will read of Airmen who will tell you how they have heard the sound of gunfire over the radio as they responded to attacks against our troops. I have as well, and I can tell you it has added meaning to you when you know you are going to be flying over that gun fire in minutes if not seconds and they are likely to be shooting at you next. "

You can read the rest at this link, if it is of interest .....

http://www.threedonia.com/archives/15278